Summoners!

Kitty Pryde has been the number one champion on my wish list for a long time, so once it was announced she was joining the Contest, I knew I needed her on my team. Given the relatively low odds of acquiring her from even 30-40 Cavalier Crystals, I decided to go for the sure thing and grind arena for a 5-Star Kitty. Here are some notes on my experience as well as some stats from the grind.

Overall, the experience wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be. The mental strain was much worse than the physical one. I’m not a huge arena grinder, and the last 5-Star Featured I went for was Green Goblin as a repeat several years ago, so I didn’t have experience with the new arena format going in. One of the first things I had to do was get some practice in. I turned on the “suicide masteries” and got some reps in the preceding Featured Arenas to get a feel for the grind.

Setting Goals

Next, it was important to set a goal for the grind, and then break that down into a daily pace. After reviewing the recent arena cutoffs on Reddit, I decided I needed to get to at least 65m to feel safe. I then broke the 65m into a daily grind target, which you can see below, along with my actual daily point totals. Breaking down the grind into manageable potions is important for managing stress and making sure you are on track!

Day	Target	Actual
Thursday	10m	11.7m
Friday	10m	19.3m
Saturday	30m	29m
Sunday	15m	11.1m
Total	65m	71.1m

My Grind Pattern

Rounds 1-6 with 4/55 to gain multiplier
Rounds 7-18 with highest PI champs in descending order
Run All 6-Stars
Run 5/65 5-Stars
Run 4/55 5-Stars
Run Top 3/45 5-Stars
Refresh & Boost Top 3 6-Stars
Refresh & Boost Top 3 5-Stars

For this grind I had 56 6-Stars available and 39 5/65 5-Stars. I was able to get in 6 runs with my 6-star roster over the course of 3 days. If you’re interested in seeing my roster, check out a recent account update.

Unit Spend

I ended up spending 3,715 units on this arena grind, and gained 235 units back from arena milestones and event rewards. Based on the 5-Star cutoff, I probably could have gotten away with spending less than 1,000 units. But it’s better to be safe than sorry with arena grinding, and I would likely have spent many more units trying to acquire Kitty via Cavalier Crystals. I don’t feel bad about overshooting. The goal is to get the champ.

Grind Data

Round	Points
8	1,018,964
16	2,050,514
22	3,019,841
32	5,002,598
34	5,238,329
40	6,027,812
45	6,415,247
55	10,003,085
69	11,697,848
83	15,040,331
90	16,237,607
100	18,048,887
103	18,283,577
139	25,026,041
150	28,302,089
171	31,064,735
191	35,377,421
214	40,023,233
234	43,709,288
245	46,402,322
260	49,354,721
277	51,541,052
280	51,826,133
300	55,780,274
330	60,013,193
350	64,406,645
375	69,945,107
388	71,172,392

Tips for Featured Arena Grinding

– Keep your mind occupied! Put on long-form content in the background to keep you from thinking too much about the grind.

– Take breaks often. You can’t do it all in one go. Stopping for even 15 minutes when your boosts expire can really help with fatigue management.

– Speaking of boosts, make sure to use them. The Superior Solo Crystals are a great source of 6-Star Boosts.

– Know that you’re going to have moments of despair! This is why breaking up the grind into different milestones is helpful. The final goal will seem unreachable at certain points along the way, so you need to have checkpoints that you can look at and say “it’s ok, I’m on track.”

I hope this information helps you with your next arena grind!

-Dano357